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In May, I announced my intention to create a portfolio that embodied life’s basic needs. Understandably, many of the truly basic needs in our everyday lives have transcended far beyond just the need for water and shelter. To that end, over a period of 10 weeks I detailed 10 diverse companies that I think will outperform the broad-based S&P 500 over a three-year period because of their ability to outperform in both bull and bear markets, and command incredible pricing power in nearly any economic environment.

If you’d like a closer look at what my reasoning was behind each selection, you can do so by clicking on any, or all, of the following portfolio components:

Waste Management

Intel

NextEra Energy

MasterCard

Chevron

Select Medical

Ford

American Water Works

Procter & Gamble

AvalonBay Communities

Let’s look at how our portfolio of basic needs stocks fared this week.

Company

Cost Basis

Shares

Total Value

Return

Waste Management

$42.60

23.24

$978.87

(1.1%)

Intel

$23.22

42.64

$956.84

(3.4%)

NextEra Energy

$87.94

11.26

$916.68

(7.4%)

MasterCard

$645.57

1.53

$957.95

(3%)

Chevron

$124.95

7.93

$947.87

(4.3%)

Select Medical

$8.96

110.49

$936.96

(5.4%)

Ford

$17.50

56.57

$930.58

(6%)

American Water Works

$43.13

22.96

$961.56

(2.9%)

Procter & Gamble

$81.29

12.18

$974.52

(1.6%)

AvalonBay Communities

$133.95

7.39

$932.84

(5.8%)

Cash

$0.88

Dividends receivable

$0

Total commission

($100.00)

Original investment

$10,000.00

S&P 500 performance

(2.7%)

Performance relative to S&P 500

(2.3%)

Sources: Yahoo! Finance, author’s calculations.

As has been the case in previous weeks, with many big-profile names in the Basic Needs Portfolio you get a wide variance in news stories. Here are five that caught my attention this week.

Analyst actionsLast week we were talking about Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) being downgraded by R.W. Baird to “neutral.” This week it’s the exact opposite, with Piper Jaffrayupgrading Intel to “neutral” from “underweight” and setting a $22 price target on shares. It still should be noted that Piper Jaffray’s target is below where Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is trading currently, so it’s not particularly optimistic on the company, but it does see Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s potential to win decent market share in tablets as enough reason to issue an upgrade. Between cloud computing, tablet wins, and its ongoing cash cow that is the PC microprocessor market, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) remains one of the most attractive long-term buy-and-hold stocks in the tech sector.

Dividend newsOn Thursday, refuse service provider Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)declared a quarterly dividend of $0.365 (the same as in the previous quarter) that will be payable on Sept. 20 to shareholders on record as of Sept. 6. It’s not shocking to see Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) keep its dividend steady, since its increases are usually announced in the fourth quarter. In addition, metal prices have been weak, which has put a slight damper on Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)’s recycling business. Nonetheless, shareholders are currently enjoying a 3.5% annual yield.

Also in the newsShares of payment processor Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) and Visa received a slight boost this week, after the Federal Reserve announced an appeal to a court ruling that overturned a $0.21 cap on fees charged to retail stores for debit-card transactions. Right now both companies can charge fees of as much as $0.50 for debit-card transactions, and an overturn would certainly work in the favor of Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) and Visa. The good news (for this portfolio) is that even if the fees stick, Visa has a much larger percentage of debit-card market share in the U.S., so it would feel the brunt of the pain relative to Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA).

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